It Stands to Reason! — A New National Game
Here is a fascinating game of wits for a party of any size. It can be played in either of two ways.
1. Select one or more stories from the Minute Mysteries that particularly appeal to you. Make as many copies of each as there are guests at the party. Then pass the copies around and allow three minutes, say, for your guests to study them. At the end of this time each must hand you a written solution, giving the line of reasoning which was used. You compare these with the solutions at the back of the book; the one who is most often correct is the winner.
2. Instead of making copies of each story, you may read it aloud, slowly and carefully. If any of the listeners so desire, it may be read a second time. But after this no questions may be asked.
After the period agreed upon has elapsed, each guest writes out his solution as in (1), and hands it to you for comparison with the book.
Method number 1 puts the emphasis on one’s powers of reasoning and analysis; method number 2 adds to these a premium on an accurate memory.